Medical Malpractice

Common Birth Injuries and Medical Malpractice

We handle lawsuits involving many types of birth injuries, which can result from medical malpractice. These include:

• Brain Injuries: These can be caused by lack of oxygen to the baby’s brain during labor and delivery, which could happen if fetal distress signs are missed or not properly addressed.
• Caesarian Section (C-Section): Failure to perform this procedure properly or in time can result in injuries to the baby, such as brain damage.
• Cerebral Palsy: This motor disability can result from mistakes during labor and delivery, like failure to promptly perform C-section for fetal distress, improper use of instruments, or failure to treat infections in the mother.
• Erb’s Palsy: This nerve injury in the arm caused by excessive pulling or force during delivery often occurs during difficult deliveries.
• Fetal Stroke: This can happen when blood supply/oxygen is disrupted to the baby’s brain before or during birth due to errors like failure to monitor or treat maternal health conditions.
• Forceps: Improper use of these medical instruments can cause various injuries like facial paralysis, skull fractures, and brain damage.
• Head Cooling: This is a procedure used to treat lack of oxygen to the baby’s brain. The need for this procedure can result from preventable errors during labor and delivery.
• Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE): This brain injury from oxygen deprivation before/during birth could potentially be prevented with proper monitoring and response.
• Induction/Pitocin: Excessive use of this hormone used to induce labor can cause contractions that are too frequent or intense, which can deprive the baby of oxygen and cause brain damage.
• Intellectual Disability: This can result from preventable oxygen deprivation to the baby’s brain during labor and delivery, excessive force during delivery, or failure to treat maternal health conditions.
• Vacuum Extraction: This procedure can cause bleeding in the brain and swelling if excessive force is used or the procedure is done incorrectly.

Examples of Medical Negligence Before, During, and After Birth

Negligence can occur at any point in the pregnancy and delivery timeline. Knowing when and how errors most commonly happen can help families recognize whether their child’s injury was preventable.

Negligence Before Birth

Many birth injuries trace back to errors made during pregnancy itself. Common examples include:

• Failing to diagnose or properly treat maternal conditions
• Missing signs of fetal distress during routine monitoring
• Failing to identify a baby in a breech position or a placenta in a dangerous position
• Prescribing medications that are unsafe during pregnancy
• Failing to recommend a cesarean section when vaginal delivery poses a known risk

Negligence During Labor and Delivery

The hours surrounding birth are when many of the most serious injuries happen. Examples include:

• Improper or excessive use of forceps or vacuum extractors
• Failing to respond promptly to a non-reassuring fetal heart rate
• Delaying a needed cesarean section while the baby is in distress
• Mishandling shoulder dystocia, where the baby’s shoulder gets stuck behind the mother’s pelvic bone
• Administering too much labor-inducing medication, causing uterine hyperstimulation and oxygen deprivation to the baby
• Failing to address umbilical cord compression or prolapse

Negligence Shortly After Birth

The first hours and days of a newborn’s life require careful monitoring. Errors during this period can cause lasting harm. Examples include:

• Failing to recognize and treat oxygen deprivation in the newborn
• Not promptly diagnosing or treating jaundice, which can lead to brain injury
• Missing signs of newborn infection, including sepsis or meningitis
• Failing to follow up on abnormal newborn screenings
• Mishandling resuscitation when the baby is not breathing properly at birth

Criteria for a Valid Birth Injury Medical Malpractice Claim

Proving medical malpractice in birth injury cases can be complex. Certain legal criteria must be met for a valid claim. Simply put, the medical provider must be shown to have failed to meet the “standard of care” in their treatment of the patient. In other words, it must be proven that they did not provide care at the level that would be expected from a reasonably competent healthcare professional in that situation. To prove this, the following components must be established:

• Duty of care: The doctor or healthcare provider owed a duty of care to the patient. This duty exists whenever a doctor takes on a patient.
• Breach of duty: The provider breached their duty of care through substandard treatment or failure to meet the medical standard of care. With birth injuries, this could involve errors like failure to monitor fetal distress, improper use of vacuum or forceps, etc.
• Injury: The substandard medical care directly caused an injury to the patient. With birth injuries, this is the injury to the infant such as cerebral palsy, Erb’s palsy, brain damage, etc.
• Damages: Damages and losses must have been suffered as a result of the injury, which may include medical costs, lost wages, disability, pain and suffering, etc.

The standard of care expected of a medical professional is variable and will often require expert witness testimony from other doctors in that field of medicine. The substandard care must be proven to have directly caused the injury to the child, beyond what would have occurred naturally in the birth process.

A qualified attorney experienced in investigating birth injury cases can help families build a strong case with thorough research, medical records, and expert testimony. These elements are crucial in proving negligence occurred and that substandard medical care resulted in preventable harm to an infant.

Compensation in Medical Malpractice Cases for Birth Injuries

When birth injuries are caused by medical negligence, families may pursue medical malpractice lawsuits against the responsible healthcare providers. The purpose is to obtain compensation for the extensive damages and care costs resulting from preventable harm to an infant. Compensation may be awarded for the following losses:

• Medical Expenses: These include the immediate costs needed to treat the birth injury, ongoing medical costs to address disabilities or conditions caused by the injury, and the substantial future medical costs expected over the course of the child’s lifespan.
• Rehabilitation and Therapy: These cover the expenses for physical, occupational, speech, and other therapies the child will need due to disabilities incurred. The costs of special medical equipment and assistive devices are also covered.
• Lost Earning Capacity: If the injury causes cognitive or physical disabilities that impair the child’s ability to eventually work and earn an income, damages can address the loss of expected earning potential.
• Home and Vehicle Modifications: This is money awarded to cover accessibility modifications needed in the home and vehicles to accommodate disabilities.
• Long-Term Care: Substantial awards can cover round-the-clock nursing care, aids, special education services, and other care the child will need over a lifetime due to the malpractice.
• Pain and Suffering: This additional money compensates for the physical pain, emotional distress, and overall reduced quality of life resulting from the malpractice.
• Punitive Damages: In exceptional cases where negligence was egregious, punitive damages may be levied as punishment and deterrence against the provider.

The total value of the compensation in each case depends on the specifics of the injury, severity, and how significantly the child’s life will be impacted. Experienced medical malpractice attorneys can help estimate the full lifetime costs and secure the maximum compensation the child and their family will need. Though money cannot undo the damage, it can help provide the necessary care and resources for the child’s future.

Medical Malpractice Cases Nationwide

Medical malpractice cases can be difficult, costly, hotly contested, and politically controversial. Hospitals and insurance companies pour huge financial resources into the defense of malpractice cases. We have handled some of the worst cases of obstetrical and neonatal malpractice. Yet, in all of those cases, the doctor and nurses always can find an expert to defend his or her care.

Doctors and nurses often notoriously cover up their mistakes. When bad things happen in hospitals, doctors and nurses are often the last people to admit negligence and take responsibility. When a malpractice case is filed, doctors and nurses are never at a loss to find an expert to defend them no matter what they’ve done. This is often referred to as the “conspiracy of silence.”